The ‘Glugor House and Spice Plantation’ painting on display at the Penang State Museum, was painted by Captain Robert Smith in 1818. I read that David Brown , the wealthiest landowner in Penang during his time and a generous philanthropist, was born in 1778 in Longformacus, a tiny village in Berwickshire, Scotland. Since this village isn’t far from where I am currently staying, I thought I would go along and see if any trace of him remains there.
Clearly David Brown was not inclined to indolence but even so, it was quite a jump to progress from a fairly ordinary background to becoming one of the richest men in Penang in the space of just 25 years. How did he do it? Stuart had been in business with James Scott, who was a contemporary of Francis Light, and together they were considered as co-founders of Penang. James Scott was also from the Scottish Borders, born in Makerstoun, not far from Longformacus.
Researchers have suggested that Scott fathered more than a dozen children with four or five local women. If he married off one of his favourite daughters to Brown that might explain why Brown rapidly became a partner of Scott’s company and succeeded him in 1808.Brown went on to amass a fortune from trading, money lending and plantations and became the largest landowner in Penang, as well as a pioneer cultivator of nutmeg, cloves and other spices.
The Brown family have their own exclusive burial ground in the corner of the Longformacus church graveyard. David Brown himself is not buried there but some of his descendants are buried at Longformacus.
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